Intrinsic Motivation The Scanlon plan that is described in the case hurts the employees' intrinsic motivation. This is because the plan was making use of "if-then" economic rewards that are known to offer short-term performance improvements. When Ron Bent was hired as the plant manager, the company's productivity was already on a decline and implementing the Scanlon plan resulted in improved productivity. During this time the employees' no longer saw the bonuses as benefits, but rather as their right and it is for this reason that they began getting disgruntled when the bonuses were not being paid for a couple of months (Michael Beer & Collins, 2008). Making use of performance rewards based on if-then is usually recommended for a short-term. The motivation for the employees will wane as they get accustomed to the rewards attached to their performance and most of them will lose interest in the work they have been doing. Most of the plant workers might have enjoyed what they do and they might take great pride in the tasks they perform at the plant. However, with the introduction of the if-then economic rewards, they increased their productivity, and this resulted in them losing the interest to perform their tasks.

Intrinsic motivation is defined as motivation that comes from inside and the employee performs a task or action because they enjoy doing the activity. The Scanlon plan implemented extrinsic motivation where the employees were used to intrinsic...

There are many factors that could have necessitated for the implementation of the Scanlon plan, but all these factors should have considered how the plan would impact on the intrinsic motivation of the employees. Internal rewards are far much fulfilling for the employees than external rewards. The employees no longer performed their tasks because they enjoyed what they were doing. They now performed tasks in order for them to receive the bonuses that come with increasing production. It is for this reason that the employees started feeling the plan was working against them when they complained and no longer offered any suggestions to management. The employees were no longer internally motivated to perform their duties and this agitated them and they now only focused on how they can increase the bonus that they receive. The satisfaction that the employees used to get from performing their work was no longer there and they had lost interest in doing their work. Intrinsic motivation encourages an employee to do that which they enjoy and they would be very good at it. As it has been pointed out in numerous studies, if-then economic rewards have the potential to increase the productivity of employees. However, the increase is normally for a short period. These rewards cannot be relied upon to offer long-term motivation for the employees.
Satisfying Employees’ Needs

In order to ensure…